One athlete at the current Beijing Paralympics is a veteran on the national Alpine skiing team who once dreamed of being a professional soccer player and now takes younger skiers under his wing.
Gakuta Koike, 39, who fought in the men's downhill standing Saturday, shares his experiences of participating in five consecutive Games with three young standing ski members like him.
Koike, who has appeared at the past five Paralymipcs, has been known to do whatever he could for three young para skiers.
"He loves me as if I were family," said skier Kohei Takahashi, 21, when asked about Koike at a February press conference.
Koike has been alongside Takahashi since the younger skier was in high school, accompanying him to try out courses prior to competitions and also sticking around after practice sessions. Koike also sometimes lets Takahashi stay the night at his home.
When Takahashi participated in an overseas training camp for the first time, Koike frequently sent Takahashi's parents messages via the Line app about their son's physical condition and training routines, as well as photos of him relaxing.
The veteran athlete also offered a ride to 25-year-old teammate Anmi Hondo when the Saitama Prefecture resident had no means of transportation to get to a ski slope in Nagano Prefecture. He also gave Yamato Aoki, 27, one-on-one tutoring sessions on equipment maintenance and warm-up exercises.
The sole reason for Koike to sacrifice his time and support them: "I want [these] young skiers to be at the top of the world."
With dreams to be a J.League soccer player when he was 20, Koike had a motorcycle accident that left his left arm paralyzed. He has been a participant at the Paralympics every competition since the 2006 Turin Games, but his career-best world ranking is ninth.
In fact, Japan has not delivered a podium finish since 48-year-old Masahiko Tokai captured silver in Turin.
Koike said he has a keen sense of the importance of improving not only himself, but also the younger skiers -- he wants these promising athletes to keep working hard and develop.
Even so, Koike does not intend to relinquish his spot on the totem pole easily. During training sessions on bicycles with his teammates, who are in their 20s, Koike does a challenging workout.
"It'll motivate them because it'll make them think, 'That middle-aged man is working out that much,'" he said.
Koike has been studying the sports science of motion analysis since April last year at a graduate school that is part of Nippon Sport Science University.
Koike wants to teach the up-and-coming skiers the proper way to use their bodies, based on theory.
The Beijing Games, which kicked off Saturday, are the culmination of 20 years of Koike competing on the front lines.
"I want to ski aggressively and come away with a medal," Koike said. However, he still can't help but care about the generation behind him. "I want to have their backs in a way that doesn't make them nervous," he said with a gentle smile.
-- 17 veterans at '22 Games
A total of 29 Japanese athletes -- 21 men -- are participating at the Beijing Paralympics.
The youngest is 18-year-old Mika Iwamoto, who will compete in the standing category in the cross-country event, while the oldest is 49-year-old standing Alpine skier Noriko Kamiyama.
Seventeen of them have experience at the past Winter Games, and standing cross-country skier Yoshihiro Nitta, 41, has the most appearances with seven.
Three athletes also competed at the Tokyo Paralympics last year.
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